


Justice and Freedom

by Write_to_write_amirite



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Adopted! Reader, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Also machine Connor because who can't have machine conner?, Anxiety Attacks, Connor done fucked up, Deviant Connor, F/M, Fake suicide attempt, Fuck Gavin he isn't allowed to be in this fic, Hank Anderson is Bad at Feelings, Hank is not okay, I apologize if you like north, M/M, Machine Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Markus is a soft boi, Minor Injuries, North is a meanie, Panic Attacks, Parent Hank Anderson, Poor Hank, Pre-Revolution, Reader-Insert, Serious Injuries, Worried Hank Anderson, partically tho, so is Connor, unisex! reader
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-05-27 22:28:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15034658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Write_to_write_amirite/pseuds/Write_to_write_amirite
Summary: Y/n, a half human/half android who helps repair and fix other androids finds themselves in a predicament when the fight between androids and humans becomes more apparent each day. They come across those who seek freedom, and others who seek justice. How will y/n react when those two get in the way of her helping others?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first series ever, so I hope you guys enjoy. Of course, with this being my first I do encourage feedback so I know in future chapters so I know whether you guys like what I’m posting or whether I should adapt to something different. Without further ado, enjoy~

It down poured in the late night of Detroit, sky rolling in dark and dreary grey clouds. Thunder crackled lightly in the distant, but there was no lightning, or any that you could see from here anyways. It had been raining the last couple of days, which wasn’t unusual, but it slowly progressed more and more with increasing inches and a growing storm. 

You were afraid if it grew anymore powerful that your sweet luxurious home that was of the third floor of a empty parking garage would be infiltrated by the homeless people of downtown Detroit. It wasn’t that you weren’t welcoming of the unfortunate, sweet and kind hearted people that came by. It was those that took advantage of those people that you were afraid of.

You made money off of repairing androids, ones owned by those who had the money to afford them, and ones who had dragged themselves to you by word of mouth. Many owners came to you because of the cheap prices you offered compared to Cyberlife, and the concealment it had for those not looking to leave a digital trail.

However, you carried a lot of profitable things, some that people could make quite some money for if they got their hands on it. You sold them at such a low price for the convenience of buyers who were desperate and the exposure you’d get from it. Low prices, more clients, more money. Yet, the idea that your small, not-so-official, off-brand repair shop ran out of a dirty parking garage filled with your suspicious and dangerous looking “neighbors” sorta scared most clients away with the doubt you even did business here.

Because of this, money came short most of the time with the few people that came in each week. You mostly spent money on parts and “blue blood," as they call it, to keep your business growing. Sometimes you didn’t have enough money and had to ask for money in advance, which worried you that if you did they’d walk away from the sketchy appeal your home had to it. Food started to lose it’s priority, and day in and out the only thing that busied your mind was the thought of an android that needed repairs coming to you.

It wasn’t a terrible life though. You met lots of people, with a lot of different stories, traveled to the luxurious parts of Detroit when business was stale, and experienced so many happy memories with people you helped. Sure, it had its downs, but what life doesn’t? Maybe it was because you focused on the present and not the past, but you were grateful for what you had. As the saying goes, money can’t buy you happiness, but it could sure as hell help a little when you want a hamburger from this small joint called Chicken’s Feed.

You rubbed your hands by the warm fire coming from the rusty metal barrel in front of you, shivering as the wind began to pick up a bit. Tonight was going to be a cold one, but luckily you had stocked up on blankets from the nice old lady who crocheted them a few blocks away. They’d be enough for tonight in this weather condition.

The sudden shuffling of footsteps became apparent to you, and you were immediately torn from your relaxed state. Behind you, you saw a young woman with brown hair and a little girl that couldn’t have been any older than the age of ten. They were both drenched from the rain, clothes dirty from mud. What caught your eye was the mixture of faint blue and red stained on the young woman’s white android attire, and the desperate look in her eyes.

“Are you y/n?” She asked, caution trailing in her voice.

“Yes, yes I am.”

“I heard you could help us,” she said, glancing down at the little girl for a second.”You repair androids, right?”

You paused for a moment, before nodding. A light smile formed on your face. A client, of course. What else could she have been here for? “Yes, I repair the damages to androids at a small cost.”

She came a little closer, worry now coming across her brow.”How much money do you charge?” It was the same question they all ask, and if you gave her the real answer she’d have the same look of disappointment the first few had that came in on their own.

“I don’t charge money for androids,” You stated, gesturing them to sit on the cement blocks that circled the fire in substitute for chairs.”Many come in here with none, and those that do need it for themselves anyways.” Your eyes landed on the little girl who gave a shudder of adaption when she came close to the fire.”I’d rather you keep your money and spend it on something that you’ll need in the future.”

The woman sat down slowly next to the little girl. You saw her limping, and figured she came in for that reason. She held an arm protectively around her, brushing the hair out of her face.”So what do you charge then?” 

“Only a donation of blood, and a promise that you’ll spread my name to those that may need me in the future.” You took blood not only to use on other androids, but a couple liters also sold pretty well and fast for those who want it cheap. Enough for you to buy parts every week, and maybe some dinners on the side if enough androids came in.

A smile suddenly grew on her face, and her tense shoulders drooped a bit with a sigh of relief.”What a kind person you are, thank you so much.” Her face glowed in delight, looking down at the girl as if to say they were gonna be okay. Yet, the little girl paid no attention, completely captivated by the warmth and heat the fire provided.

“I’m Kara, and this is Alice.” The corner of your lips curved upwards at the two of them, glad to see the miserable state leave them both.”It’s nice to meet you both.”

“I’m assuming you two also need a place to sleep for tonight?” Most androids that came in did. You wouldn’t be surprised if these two, in the state they were in, needed some rest as well. Or at least the little girl.

“Oh, yes.” Kara nodded, looking slightly shocked as if no one had ever offered it to her. You nodded, going over the hiking bag you had propped up against the wall.”You two can stay here for the night if you wish, I have enough for me and her to stay warm tonight.” You said as you pulled out two blankets. 

Jerking your head over to the rolled up towel on the floor that made up for a pillow, you stood up and unfolded the blankets and laid them down as a makeshift bed for Alice.”Go right ahead and make yourselves at home. It’s going to be a rough storm tonight, let me know if she’ll need any more blankets.” You gave a sweet smile to Kara, then to Alice.

Kara nodded as she got up and moved the brunette girl over to the ground, who seemed be in a trance-like state in the comfort of the fire. She tucked her in sweetly, just as a mother would do. You gave them some privacy and continued as you were doing before, warming yourself up before moving your duffel bag filled with various android parts.

It was a few minutes before Kara came back to sit with you, Alice having turned over and making an attempt to go sleep. You could see it was a challenge for her, shuffling and trying to get comfortable as Kara walked away. Must have been why she lingered for so long, they must have a strong bond.

Opening up your bag, various parts clanked softly together as it expanded. You had scrap metal, wires, LEDs, bolts and screws, as well as some spray paint. You also had some specific parts that went to specific places of the body, typically the parts that androids come in with the most damaged like a leg, arm, eye, and abdomen. Any parts you didn’t have you made up for by bending scrap metal.

“Where are you hurt?” You asked.

She lifted up her stained shirt slowly, revealing a gaping hole in her side that exposed some internal wiring, blue blood dripping down the side.”How did this happen?” You questioned out of curiosity, trying to get a better understanding of how this injury came to be. There was a hesitant pause as you examined it, but she answered.

“I was attacked,” she admitted.”This man was threatening and endangering the life of Alice, I had promised to protect her so I intervened.” A sorrowing tone followed her voice as she spoke, and your eyes couldn’t help but trail back over to the little girl that was laid delicately on the floor.

“I see,” You hummed, waving your hand as if she needed to say no more. Getting up from your spot, you went over by the fire to grab the hot metal rod from inside it, the bottom sticking out enough for the fire to not heat up the end.”I’ll seal some scrap metal to it then, since its too big to just seal close on its own. Then we’ll get some fluids in you, and see how we can made it look a little better. Sound good?”

You came back over and she nodded,”Yes, that sounds fine.” You grabbed a square shaped piece of scrap metal from the pile you had stuffed in your bag and brought it over to Kara. You sealed it carefully, making sure not to burn Kara anywhere else. It was very quick and easy, painless too of course. When you were finished you put the rod back and when over to your travel bag to get some fluids for her.

You brought over a IV bag to her filled with the blue liquid, uncapping the top for her to drink straight out of it.”I’ll take an IV from you tomorrow morning, hopefully over night you’ll regenerate more blood so you won’t feel drained when I get it from you.”

She took it gratefully, downing the whole thing in one go. Wiping her mouth on her sleeve when she was finished, she handed it back to you.”Thank you.”

“It’s no problem,” You smiled, throwing it back into the bag and looking for the various spray paints you had to patch up that ugly grey melded piece of metal attached to her.

“So, you do this for a living?” Kara spoke up, and you couldn’t help but laugh a little at yourself for the question.”I guess you could say that, quite a good pay actually.”

“You don’t look like you're getting good pay,” You could see her head turning to the side a little, trying to put the pieces together.

“I spend all my money on supplies to fix androids, expensive things they are.. I’d probably have more money if I didn’t buy so much in advance. You never know how many people come in each week.”

“You seem very dedicated to your work, helping others when you could be helping yourself.” While she said it as it was something to be proud of, you knew it was one of your greatest flaws. You completely ignore your own needs sometimes, even when your mind isn’t occupied on someone else, it can just float away from you at times.

You shrugged your shoulders, pulling out some almond/fair skin color spray paint.”It’s very difficult to deny a person who can give you everything you need to survive. It’s also very difficult to deny a person who needs everything from you to survive.” It troubled you when that wasn’t the case sometimes, having to deny others because they had a problem you couldn’t fix or you didn’t have enough to provide the other to be fully fixed. Knowing that you were the only hope to some, the thought ate away at you.

Coming closer, Kara lifted her shirt again for you to apply the paint to the metal.”I can’t make you look brand new, but I can make it so it’s not all that noticeable. You can always fix it later on if you need to with the right supplies. They’ll probably be more costly though, the market price always goes up each year.”

You hovered your hand just above her skin, trying not to aim over the skin that wasn’t damaged before covering the grey patch of exposed metal. Pulling back when you finished, it wasn’t perfect. The color was slightly darker, a tanner shade than her default, but maybe she could fix that on her own if she had that ability. You weren’t quite sure if her model could do that, if she could change her eye color, hair color, or skin color. If she could it was certainly adaptable.

“That seems about it, you’re good to go.” You hummed, backing away for Kara to adjust her shirt. Oh, that shirt.. You almost forgot about it. For a second your mind paused, recalling back to when she said she was attacked. The blue was, well, from her obviously. As for the red, it started to become more apparent to you as where it had came from.

You cleared your throat, getting up and moving back over to your travel bag.”I have some clothes if you, uh, need them.” You mumbled, unzipping your bag and pulling out another jacket and torn up sweats. You’d be down to 3 outfits then, but that was okay. Just as long as it helps her and the little one.. You weren’t as concerned with what she had on her clothes as much as you were concerned with someone else having the courage to ask her.

She seemed to tense up as you pointed it out, accepting the clothes gratifully.”Do whatever you wish of your other clothes, but uh.. You can do whatever you’d like. There’s not much in the upper levels if you were looking to scavenge anything, and the lower levels are occupied with other people as you probably saw. It’s probably best you do not disturb them.” You changed the subject for the sake of you both have to go through that conversation, wishing to avoid it all.

“Alright, thank you.” She nodded, looking down at the clothes.”You sleep well, y/n.”

You waved it off, giving a light smile.”You too.” Sleep hasn’t been your luck lately, and with this storm you doubted you'd get any better chance at it. But what else was there to do?

Propping yourself up against the wall, the concrete made you shiver, pulling your blanket tighter around you. It was quite some time before you even drifted off, but as the rain grew stronger you found yourself lulled off by it. And soon everything around you started to fade to black before you could even realize it.

\--

It was a few days after Kara had left that it began to get out of control. It seemed like the whole downtown area was filled with police cars and yellow tape by Wednesday, cutting off nearby streets and areas. It wasn’t abnormal really, especially when crime rate was increasing each month with the decline in jobs, and this time of year. The heat always agitated everyone, it was only a matter of time before some cracked.

Yet, looking over the edge, you saw police men walking over from across the street over to the parking garage where you were at. Some of them assisted the elderly homeless people that lived on the lower levels out to the shade of the trees, others stood on the side taking notes as they conversed with the people that lived here.

Why would they need to come over here? Were they kicking everyone out? Had something happened? Was there some convicted criminal on the loose? As much as you’d like to go downstairs and find out what was happening, you couldn’t stick around with the police nearby. Some of the stuff you had was illegal, like the android parts and thirium 310, which was to be sold by its producer. You also had a few other things for yourself, but that was for another time.

You could hear the distant chatter and commands from below you, groups of men and women on the second floor. You could also here people you’ve come to meet and greet casually everyday when you head out argue with the law enforcement.

There was no other way out of here but the ramp, (the fire exit was also an option too but no doubt you’d meet face to face with someone securing the exits) and avoiding the police was a MUST. Throwing up your hoodie, you hurriedly when over and picked up all your stuff, shoving it messily together before throwing it all over your shoulder like a hiking backpack.

You hastily searched your jeans for your grey hospital mask, pulling it out and putting it on as you made your way down the ramp. Were you suspicious looking? Maybe, but better than some of the others below. If you slipped off successfully, you could easily blend in with the others and walk out of here with everything.

Remaining calm, you peered your head around the corner of the ramp, seeing a clear opening where people were gathering their things. You could easily get over there and walk out with the rest of them, if it weren't for one slight inconvenience. The two men walking towards the ramp.

“-don’t talk to me before I’ve had my morning liquor.”

“Actually lieutenant, having liquor in the morning has significantly proven to worsen the effect of negative aftereffects throughout the day due to having consumed it so quickly to have been woken up. Whereas when you drink later on in the day or later at night after a-”

“Conner, shut the fuck up. It's too early for your android jibber jabber.”

You nearly froze in place. If it weren't for the jittery panic you had when waking up to sirens across the street, you probably would've. But instead you jumped behind the curved wall, making sure that you didn't skid yourself in place so hard that your fast feet would echo through the ramp.

“I don't think the suspect would have come here, it's a walk away from the gas station and there are so many people here that have already said they haven't seen anyone like what we're looking for.”

“Here’s something new for you to learn today, Conner. People lie, all the time. It's probably become second hand nature to these people at this point. They believe their truths are valued, something that could only be spoken of if green paper trees are involved.”

“Do you think one of them may be hiding the deviant?”

“Who knows.. if they are it's gonna be hard to get them to spit it out. Fuckers waste your time for a buck or two and then run off to buy drugs.”

That voice.. you could faintly recognize it from somewhere. Peeking your head over the corner, you could see they were no longer coming up the ramp. They were facing the opposite way from you, looking at those who were exiting, blocking the way for you to come down. Fuck.

But you could see the figure, taking a moment to pinpoint where you've heard that scruffy, dead beaten voice. And then it hit you-

\--

Detroit Times - June 15, 2021

A reported car crash on highway 43 severely injured one child and one adult due to a drunk driver swerving in and out of lanes. The victims have been confirmed to be Lieutenant Hank Anderson of DPD and his first born child, said to have been leaving for vacation. The condition of the child has not been comfirmed, but Lieutenant Anderson should be released from the hospital within 3-4 days of the crash.

Detroit Times - June 21, 2021

Lieutenant Hank Anderson, has yet to find peace in recovery after a deadly crash last week. Police say they were unable to find the full body of Anderson's child, who was also present in the vehicle during the crash. Investigations over the mysterious disappearance of the child have shut down a section of highway 43 and prolonged the court date of the drunk driver until further notice.

Detroit Times - June 23, 2021

After a long week, police say they were only able to recover half of the remains of (y/n) Anderson in the flooded ditches beside highway 43, that had been hidden until now. (y/n) was a victim in a car crash last week with their father, Lieutenant Hank Anderson, who recovered days after with only minor bruising and a small head injury. Police say that they will cut the investigation next Tuesday if they don’t find the other half of the deceased child, but the prosecution against the drunk driver will further continue later on this week.

Detroit Times - August 7, 2021

Lieutenant Hank Anderson, investigator for DPD, stood in court today with the drunk driver that hit his car two months back, killing his only child in the backseat. Witnesses say that he became violent and fought with security, using vulgar language against the driver. He was escorted out of the court house for the rest of the evening. The driver pleaded not guilty, and was charge 30 years in prison with possible parole. (y/n)’s funeral has yet to be appointed, but is said to be public for all of those to witness.

\--

The recollection sent a nauseating sickness to your throat, and all of a sudden you felt somewhat violently ill. 17 years ago… you had blocked it, a hazing memory clouded by a new consciousness. It was the same feeling you felt when you first woke up, confused like it was a terrible nightmare, but clarified by the new information your “repairs” came with.

For a moment you held a hand to your mouth, afraid you’d actually vomit. You couldn’t believe it. Or maybe you could, knowing that his heart laid in the heart of Detroit, he’d never leave. Especially after you died, or partially died. Maybe you thought you’d never run into him, that maybe this city was too big for that to be common. It hurt you to know that this whole time you never told him that you were still alive, but he seems so different.. So unhealthy and aggressive..

You gave yourself a moment to gather yourself, taking a deep breath. You couldn’t do this now-This was too much stress. You had to focus on your main goal, getting the hell out of here. Everything else could be dealt at a later time, by yourself and not in front of the man who you weren’t prepared to see yet. You swallowed thickly, adjusting your hood and mask better. If you were slick about this, it’d go straight over their heads. They’d think you are nothing but someone trying to follow what everyone else is doing, trying to get out of the authorities way. Just act normal..

“If my analyzers are right, we should be following the bus routes. The deviant most likely left by transportation, and if we can figure out where they went we could pull up security feed from that night and find out what happened.”

“Jesus.. Do you ever chill out?” He huffed, taking a sip from his flask.”Relax, kid. We just got here. No need to jump the gun.”

“Isn’t our main goal to find and arrest the devi-”

“Excuse me,” You coughed.”Is that the way we’re supposed to go? Outside?”

Hank and the brunette whipped their heads around.”Uh, yeah.” He confirmed, pointing towards the other ramp.”Shit, we didn’t even check the upper floors.” He mumbled to the other guy, and just as you were starting to walk away he called out to you again.

“Hey, there wasn’t anyone else up there, was there?”

You’re anxiety ran high, pausing your step as you looked over your shoulder. Your eyes locked with his and all you could feel was pure dread, guilt, and a shaky fear that you didn’t know you even had when you had when looking at the man that was of your father now.

“No.” You turned back and went the other way, trying to keep calm and slow your steps that wanted to run. Just walk down with the others, lie a little if anyone asks you questions, and be on your way. Worry about the rest later.

But that wasn’t the end of it as it should’ve been. You heard something that made the blood drop from your face, and you knew then that wouldn’t be the end of it for you. It was quiet, it was short, and maybe even reasonable to some in this situation but you knew it from the minute he even spoke up that it’d be game over from the look of his outfit. 

“Their stress level is 72%.”

You peered over your shoulder, and that stupid brunette was looking directly at you.

“Excuse me-”

You kept walking, a little faster and faster until you hit the ramp. From there you spirinted upon hearing frantic footsteps behind you, pushing and shoving your way through the people that got in your path. There was no time to check behind you, knowing how close the other guy was to catching you. Instead you ran as fast as you could around till you reached the first floor. From there you took the long way out, hoping to avoid any police and lose the other.

You ran further into the parking garage, over to the exit on the opposite side where there was no police tape. You’re breath hitched, lungs already burning from the adrenaline pumping through your veins. You hopped over the rail, getting a slight glimpse of the distance you had on the guy. He was further away, but it wasn’t more than half a second of relief that he was back on your trail.

Getting out to the street, you ran with all your heart. Your bags were weighing you down, but you couldn’t afford to drop them. They were all you had to survive, without them you’d start back down from ground 0 and would never be able to get back to where you were.

Sharp rights and lefts down alley ways were your only leverage, but soon after 2-3 your legs were starting to give out on you. You couldn’t keep doing this, especially against an android that didn’t burn out like you did. It was moments like these that you wish they amputated your leg in replace for an android one like they did with your left.

He was yelling at you, probably something along the lines of “stop” or “slow down”, but you couldn’t make it out. Your head was dizzy, like you were about to pass out. All you could focus on was the road ahead of you, trying to control your breathing. There was no way in hell you could be caught, and at this point, you were considering dropping your bags. Or at least your parts bag. While it was expensive, you didn’t need it to make money. The blue blood was all you needed to make money, you could rebuy everything you lost with the donations you had been given over the past couple of weeks.

And that was it, around the next turn you dropped the 20 pound duffel bag. The release allowed you to run faster, and now was when you exactly needed speed. You spotted a metro station, and that was exactly how you were gonna lose him. Running straight into traffic, you hopped over the hoods over cars to get to the other side, throwing yourself towards the stairs that led to the train station.

There was no clear signs you could see from amongst the crowds which train was leaving first. So instead you followed the people that were running as well, perhaps almost late to their stop. It wasn't long before you saw the train pull up, and by then you weren't all that concerned considering that you had blended into the crowds smoothly, it would be hard for the brunette to find you within the huddleed group of at least a hundred. 

You zipped through the crowds of people trying to get onto the train, pushing through most to get to the front. The doors were getting ready to close, and you relaxed just as you stepped on. Everything seemed to slow down as you caught your breath again, calming down. You held onto the standing pole for support, feeling the weakness of your non-robotic leg giving.

You started to relax, up until you start that same brunette racing to the train as the crowds started to clear. You stood up straight, a cold sweat running down your back. There was no way, there was way no way he was gonna make it. You mentally crossed your fingers that the doors would close on him. He was coming closer and closer as the people started to take their places on the train, ready to go already.

He was so close, but the doors were starting to close. If he got there fast enough to put his hands between the doors you were a goner. That would be the end for you, arrested and put away for illegal trade of biocompartments only to be thrown back out on the streets a few years later with nothing. The worst outcome to happen. Your heart had stopped, hands tightened on the pole.

He came close, but just as he was about to reach out his hand to the doors they closed. His fist ran into the side of the train, a minor bang against the wall startling you. Defeat wore dead across his eyes that bored into you, and they continued to stay that way until a ding rung from the speakers and the train took off.

Relief returned back to your body once more, a sigh escaping your lips. You were safe. Looking out the door windows, you could see him slowly walking back out just before you entered the tunnel. Now, you could relax.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the love everyone has given to this series! If you'd like to see more future works from me, please don't hesitate to follow me on tumblr. I post my smaller works there, and take fic requests as well. I'd also like to mention that while in this chapter you may not think Markus would act this way, I believe after being thrown into the deep end this is how he would first react to his first experience with natural instincts and that is how I portrayed him in this chapter. Don't worry though! You'll soon have your soft boi Markus back with ya in the next chapters to come. Without further ado, enjoy~

You were able to get a seat after a few people got up and left for their stop. Tired, exhausted, and drained, you just wanted to get away. Away from that parking garage, away from the police, away from the reality of things. Just away from everything, you didn’t need this extra weight on your shoulder. Maybe it was your fault in the first place it was there, but you did nothing to provoke it.

The train hummed a lull that soothed you, having calmed down from the incident. You took the longest route, hoping to get as far away as you could. There was nothing else there for you, nothing to further benefit or harm you. Well, besides shelter, which would now be a heads or tails chance wherever you ended up at. It was the best you've had in a while, besides the abandoned house across the street, but some wacko stayed there. He didn't like visitors all too well.

Your head rolled back, bags in between your legs. For a moment, your irritated eyes had shut close and you took a deep exhale. Everything was gonna be okay, everything was going to be fine. It’s happened before in the past, and the past was like nothing. There was nothing new about this time, it had the same outcome. It's always had the same outcome.

You never really came to terms with abandoning your father. It didn't seem like a big deal after a while, and even a few days back you could still think about him and not really care all that much. It had been 17 years… and today was the first day you had seen him since then.

He had changed a lot since then, you didn't even recognize him at first. His hair had turned a whiteish grey, and he wore sulky dark colors. His voice was rough, nasty, like only venom sat on his tongue. He was drinking, which was news to you because as far as you knew that was not the father he was when he had you. Maybe some wine here and there with Mom, but that was it.

Oh god.. mom. You hadn't even thought about her. They had split a while before the accident had happened, but you had known even at that age that it was a toxic relationship. She wanted someone else, and eventually got someone else before she was even gone. They were always fighting, not around you but when you were “away”. Hank still never drank then during or after their relationship, remaining clean for you.

You didn't even think you'd ever see either of them after the accident ever again. Not that you didn't want to, but you had another family. The ones that took you in after, the ones that saved your life by making you half Android. They had became your new family afterwards. They didn't force you to stay there, but you were so afraid to go back. Separation anxiety you could call it, unable to even leave the property till a year after.

But still, seeing him in real life made everything so.. real. He was actually there, standing before you. He was alive, talking to you. It all just seemed dream-like. You had forgotten that he had still worked at DPD, which sucked for you. Not only did you miss him, but you had to avoid him. It's not like he'd approve of you now anyways, he’d probably be disgusted if he found out that you lived on the streets ON PURPOSE. You heard his opinion of homeless people back at the parking garage, and that combined with his child that had been purposely avoiding him for 17 years too would conjure up a whole bundle of disappointment.

Would you ever go back to him again? Most likely not. For your safety, and his heart, it'd be best if he continued to think you were dead. He was still functioning like a human being, and it seemed like he had an Android to keep him company as well. As far as you knew, he was good on the surface. As long as he stayed that way, he'd be alright on his own. You knew he could move on, and 17 years was enough time for old an wound to heal. He'd be fine.

You pulled up your hood sleeve just a little, revealing a bright red handkerchief tied around your wrist. That was all you had left of him, a handkerchief that read “Cali - 2018”. That's where he went a few years back with a few of his buddies. He brought you it back, and that's what you wore when you two where going together. You two never made it, but it was still something that you held onto. Y’know, just in case… if whatever happened… who knows?

You brought your head back up, opening your eyes. There were few people on the train, and the clock on the wall told that it was early afternoon already. You sighed again, figuring it'd probably be best you get off soon. Find shelter, set up somewhere nice, maybe see if you could scrap up anything good on the streets to keep.

Looking around, an elderly woman sat on the opposite side of you, holding her bags tightly to her. Beside a couple seats away from her was a teenager, looking out the window with headphones in. A rather old, and gross looking man in the corner was downing a subway sandwich like it was a contest. 

A younger man stood in front of you, still using the pole even though there were plenty of seats open. He came in a few stops back, fidgety and on edge. He had two beautifully different colored eyes, dark skin, and was quite handsome overall. His clothing was a little bit torn up and dirty, but nonetheless looked quite fitting for him.

You noticed his pants ( not that you were looking at anything ;) ) had seeped in a strip of some liquid going down the side of his leg. Down at the cuffs of his ankles, a blue droplet fell down to the floor, soaking into the flooring rather quickly and leaving a small patch on the ground. Blue blood was what you immediately thought, but androids weren't allowed up here. He didn't have a LED circle either on the side of his head.

The train stopped, and the doors opened. He looked at his hands momentarily before walking out. Curious, as well as concerned, you got up and left the train too. It was about time you should leave anyways, maybe this guy could lead you to somewhere you could stay the night if you could catch up to confront him.

But by the time you had gathered your stuff and stepped off he had rounded the corner. He was in a rush, but that didn't stop you from continuing to follow from a distance. You came around the corner, watching him stand in place staring at a brick wall before he continued on his way again.

How odd.. You went over to the same spot he was just in and look to see it was only graffiti. It looked nothing in particular, just a whole bunch of red and black symbols all bundled together. You thought nothing much of it until the second time he did it, looking down at his hand again before moving on.

He kept doing it over and over, and for a second you thought maybe his program had malfunctioned. Maybe he was on a repeated rerun, constantly looking and scanning things perhaps. The graffiti began to look similar with each he came upon, like the order he did it in was deciphering something you couldn't see.

At some point he crawled under a fence when he thought no one was paying attention. You continued to stay at a distance, very carefully watching him till he disappeared from your range of sight. Pushing on, you copied him and went along the path he took, until that led to a dead end.

There was nothing here, no one at all. It was like he disappeared out of no where. Three building walls covered the area, and the only hiding spot in there was a crate that had nothing in it. Looking up, there was no possible way for him to go anywhere on top or go through any of the open windows. It was too high, and there would be nothing for him to balance on.

This guy had literally pulled a magic trick and made himself disappear right before your eyes. Maybe you took the wrong path, maybe you lost him or something and wasn't paying close enough attention to where he was going. You were so confused in seeing his inconsistent blue blood trail had come here, but then disappear.

And then it hit you-

You turned around and were immediately met with the man you had been following, pinning you to the wall with a pocket knife to your throat. Your heart rate immediately skyrocketed, thinking that maybe you should've consider the hostility of the man before you.

“Who are you,” he demanded, rather than questioned.

You swallowed thickly, slowly bring your hands up as to show you met no harm.”(Y/n), sir..” you compliantly answered.

His eyes analyzed yours, switching back and forth from each one as if met with perplexity.”Why are you following me?” His voice was deadly firm, but quiet as if he was afraid to speak.

You looked down at his legs for a second not moving your head or neck, afraid the sharp blade would cut into the human flesh of your neck.”You were bleeding, on the train.” You started, nudging his foot slightly.”I repair androids, I figured you might want help.”

He looked long into your eyes for a moment before pulling the knife away from your throat, but he remained pinning you.”I don't need help.” He stated, a hint of something close to sorrow in his voice, something pent up.

“I get that,” Was he an android? You assumed he was considering he didn't say that he wasn't, but he didn't look like one nor spoke like one. He looked scared, and sounded angry, but at what? You couldn't risk asking why, not now anyways, but tried to reason with him.”But if you keep going on your way with something like that, you're going to shut down.”

He didn't say anything, probably debating and calculating whether he could trust you. If you were being honest, you were doing the exact same thing. This man had just held a knife to you. He was hostile, with the will to kill if need be it. Androids weren't like this.. not any you had met anyways.

“I’ll make it quick, I promise.” Even with that, he seemed suspicious. You could understand that, he had no reason to trust you. You had no reason to trust him either.

His eyebrows narrowed,“Why are you so interested?”

“I don't know,” You admitted. In truth, you thought this guy might be able to give you some donations if you patched him up so you could replace the parts you had lost. But now, there was no way you were risking that. “You looked stressed already, I figured you shouldn't need any more on your plate.”

You could see the conflicting look in his blue and green eyes, but after a second took a step back and allowed you to breathe in your space.“I won't take long, I'll be out of your way.”

You took off your bag carefully, and gestured for the man to sit on the ground. When you got closer, he didn’t dare to take his eyes off of you. He was probably watching your moves carefully, predicting your next moves, ready to attack in case it came to that. You had heard some androids were being made that way now, to predict actions and proceed with the best outcome within having processed it in a millisecond.

Carefully, you proceeded to take of his long trench coat, which further revealed a creme colored shirt that had blue seeped into the fabric. You wondered where he even got the clothes in the first place. Maybe his owner gave him permission to change clothes, but even then that was quite limited. 

“What's your name?” You asked, wishing to release the tension between you both.

“Markus.”

“Nice to meet you, Markus.”

Your conversation soon ended with that. It was clear he didn't want to talk, and you weren’t going to force him to if he wasn’t up for it. A part of you was just curious with personal questions you wanted to ask him, another part of you just wanted to start over again clean without the mutual “oh wow you might actually kill me” feeling.

So instead you continued your work in silence. Examining his wound, there honestly wasn’t that much damage. It was more of a deep scrape than a puncture, a surface wound you could say. That would explain the excessive bleeding, and it was nothing that couldn’t be fixed with some stitching up and bandages.

You were just beginning to get all of your supplies out when you noticed he was looking at you were that same perplexity he had earlier. His eyebrows furrowed as he watched you collect everything in one hand and set it out before pushing your bags behind you.

“Are you on the run too?”

He was on the run? Well that makes up for his lack of trust, but he was an android. Androids didn't.. behave this way. Unless he was ordered to, but he acted in such a way that was like his actions were based on emotion. When you found him, he had so much fear in his body language. It was pretty obvious he’d never been in a situation like that, not to say you were either but he was afraid. Even now he remained quite distant, moving the conversation on to you.

“Are you referring to my bags? I always carry those around.” You usually carried three bags. Your travel backpack that had all of your stuff, your “blood pouch”, and your duffel bag of parts. But you had abandoned that bag, leaving yourself a lesser load.

“No,” He said in a low tone.“The look you had on your face, on the train. You looked unsettled, and afflicted.” You glanced up at him for a moment to see him staring at the wall behind you, unchanging. “Lost, more like it.”

He pretty much hit it directly on the head. You were lost. You didn't know where to go from here anymore. You wanted to make a life for yourself, earn your wealth, earn this second life you've been given. But with this, you've had-you’ve purposely ignored those that mean the most to you. Those that given you a meaning in life. A life in general. Now, you weren't even living, just surviving. You didn't have anyone to live life and enjoy the experience anymore. You only had memories to live by. 

“Yeah, I guess you could say I’m on the run.”

“Why?”

Oh, well maybe that was because you were illegally buying and selling biocompartments. Or maybe the fact that it you were withholding information from the authorities. Yet, deep down, you knew those weren't the only reasons you were running.

“I thought I could avoid everything in the past and make a new future, I thought if I changed myself and the things I did I would no longer be the same person.”

And it was your fault, there was no doubt about that. You were the cause of the situation you were in now. You were the cause of destroying your relationship with your dad, you were the cause of why you were living on the streets. You were the cause of your own destruction.

“The past catches up to you at the finish line, Markus. I'm not ready for the end of that race.”

He seemed to settled with satisfaction in your answer, growing quiet as you prepared and sanitized the needle. Markus had calmed down, relaxing as you were about to insert the pin. You knew androids had no pain receptors, but you figured it would still benefit you both if you distracted him. “Why are you on the run?”

“I was abandoned.” He stated simply. “Left for dead. I wanted to make a new life for myself.”

With the vague answer, you scoffed a laugh.“You and me both.” His eyes immediately darted from the wall down to you, and now it was made clear to you that you were being quite rude as you let your guard down.“Sorry, continue.”

There was a pause before he shook his head lightly.“Don't apologize,” he smiled.”It gives you life.” It took you a moment to actually understand what he meant by that, but a little part of you felt better that he took no offense to you letting your guard down. You were mindful of the gap between you both on the subject of trust, but it was nice you were both able to relate. A sense of peace, you may call it.

“Someone unexpectedly came into my life and took the thing I cared most about from me. Then he took my whole life away from me.” Even though he was an android and supposed to not feel anything, sadness trailed in his voice. Grief perhaps, like you. 

Missing a lost part of themselves seemed to be the common thing for the people you came across nowadays. Except he was trying to put the right pieces of the puzzle back together. Whereas you just were jamming pieces together in hopes they'd work. And while you both were putting together a puzzle, one would come out with a clear image and the other would have to restart over again. That was your difference.

“We can only move forward from our past, not let it shape us to who we are today.” He mumbled out, chest lowering a inaudible sigh.”That's what they told me, the person I cared the most about.”

“I'm sorry that happened to you,” All of a sudden the mood lowered, and you felt bad. You would've never guessed that'd happen to him, and while he left out some major details, you could tell that it made an impact on him. “You don’t deserve that, you seem nice.”

“Who? The guy who pulled a knife on you seems nice?” He joked as you were finishing up.

“You know what I mean,” Playfully nudging his knee, you sewed up the last bit.”You didn't deserve anymore tragedy than you sow. No one like you deserves to have something like that to happen.”

“And you know me?” You thought he was asking seriously for a second, but when you looked up he had a goofy smile all over his face. You shook your head.”You don't deserve it either, tragedy. Out here, risking your life to save people.”

“You reap what you sow, Markus. I’m only trying to make up for it.” It was true. You deserved everything coming your way, and healing people was the only way you knew how to make up for it. Well, besides actually confronting the past.

“We’re not all that different.”

And that was the truth of it. You two were both people who had been given shit cards to dealt with at the time, both running away from things that's catched up to you at some point in life, and you both wanted to change the way of life you lived today. You’d be lying if you didn't say you didn't take comfort in hearing of his own tragedies, making your problems seem lesser.“I guess not.”

You cut off the rest of the string and tied it off, putting a patch over his skin just in case he ripped it on accident. “There we go, all done. Good as new.” It wasn't your greatest stitch work, but it was still decent enough.

“Thank you,” He stood up as you backed away and packed up your stuff. You gave him some blue blood to drink so he’d have some to regenerate for the rest of the afternoon and get back on path.

“It's no problem,” You hummed in delight, throwing your bags back over your shoulders. This was why you did this, this was why you spent every dime. To understand your mistakes, to help those who needed it in a time of need just like you did. Now if only you spent some time trying to fix yourself, maybe you'd get somewhere. “I hope you have better days, Markus.”

“You too, (y/n).” Just as you were about to walk away and head back down to look for somewhere to set up, he stopped you. 

“Y’know, I'm going to this place for androids like us. Deviants.” You tensed up for a moment. He thought you were an.. android? Well, only partially, but you were technically human. How he couldn't detect that, you weren't sure. And deviants? What even were those? Homeless androids maybe, or perhaps ones that were ditched. Whatever it was, immediately off the bat it sounded sketchy.

“It’s for androids that have no place to go in this society, or at least what that's what I heard of. A safe place.” He explained,“It’s called Jericho, it's where I'm heading to. If you'd like to come I’d be happy to take you there, I owe you anyways.”

A safe place, huh? Any other time, you'd be happy to go to a safe place for social android rejects. But being around a lot of androids at once made you feel powerless, they were already so much stronger than you. You didn't need the anxiety, not after today anyways.

“No, it's fine Markus.” You waved your hand, dismissing his desire to repay you. “Thank you for the offer, but I just can't risk something like that right now.” Maybe at a later date you'd look into it, or maybe when you were really desperate. But with the police on your ass, it’d be best if you stayed away from ‘safe places’.

“I believe rats are what got me into the situation I’m in now, I think it's best I stay away from groups like that.” You further explained to him, shrugging your shoulders. Not only was it a big red flag for you, but it also came off as a red flag for you for him to go. “It's dangerous for people like us to stay grouped up like that anyways.” You reminded him, as if he didn't know already.

He nodded in acknowledgment, but you weren't all too certain he'd let it go. But who were you to tell him what to do anyways? “Well.. let me know if you ever change your mind. I'd be glad to help you.”

“Thank you, Markus. Stay safe out there.”

“You too.” And with those words, you both parted ways.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone leaving kudos and comments, it really does make my day seeing them all in response to what I've been putting out. I apologize for the short chapter, as well as the lack of characters in here. It was going to be somewhere around 10k words but I decided to split it up instead. Because it's so short and you guys waited so long for it to come out I will be posting the next chapter on Wednesday instead of next Sunday. I hope you all enjoy~

It had been for more than a month that you had seen Markus. You didn't see him roaming the Detroit streets looking at brick walls anymore, which made you wonder if he actually found the place the he was looking for. Jericho, or whatever it was called. The android ‘safe place’. You still didn't buy it.

However, it did seem like other people were. Clients that came on their own said that Jericho was their next destination, and it concerned you how many were determined to get there. Some even implying it to be a final death wish almost, their last option. Not only did it cause your already incomplete opinion of the place to lower, but it made you wonder what exactly Jericho entailed besides a safe place.

It also made your wariness and paranoia grow more than before. These androids that were coming in were not only broken on the outside, but from your observation were also internally broken. More and more showed signs of emotion, empathy. Human-like qualities you had dismissed before. Maybe that's because a month ago you lived in a low-android residential area, but now with screens and news broadcasts everywhere in upper Detroit you were starting to hear a little more about a programming ‘bug’ going around in androids.

While you could see a programming glitch being a little worrisome, the news had described it to be something more. Something that sent a shudder down your back, something that you-a person who worked with androids daily now-found quite concerning. Androids that could act without command, androids that did more than what they were told. Androids that disobeyed authority.

However, even with this, business was business. You couldn't stop because you were scared. Everyone gets scared, and being fearful gets you no where but backed into a corner (and that's exactly why you were in the situation you were in with your father). There was a variable of danger in your path. The road you were already on had it's dips and divots, it couldn't get any worse than it already was for you.

Business was doing great over here anyways. You had more customers than ever, more with money and more willing to give you donations. Of course, more of them were androids by coincidence, but that didn't matter to you when you were able to feed yourself everyday at least once.

The only bad thing about this area was that people like you were easily stolen from. You've had parts, cables, and wires stolen from you at least three times this month. Other areas you had traveled to within the month had not been as bad, but of course with that there wasn't nearly as many clients.

But while that was a down side, you couldn’t bare to bring yourself to move anytime soon. This place was the best you had had in forever. With little to no police activity, it was much easier for you to hide about and blend within the public.

There wasn’t many that were homeless either, but with that being said there were no benefits such as shelters and food banks. Everything you had was off the skin of your own back, which made yourself proud that you could stably provide yourself on your own finally.

You started to treat yourself a little better with your increasing income, feeding yourself twice a day and buying better quality clothes for the upcoming season change once again. It even came to a point where you had extra money laying around that you didn’t know what to do with, considering all you ever did was spend it on your needs and supplies.

But that was the thing, carrying extra isn’t something to be proud of, nor is it something to flaunt. Sooner or later it’d come to bite you back, and you’d start all over again. You couldn’t understand how this part of the city with little crime rate could have so much.. Well, crime.

For the most part, it was all teenagers. Twice this month, a kid had taken your bags while you were asleep, or they’d come up to you asking for help just to get close enough to snatch it and run. However, one time it was even a client. 

You’d think you’d have a talk with yourself saying something along the lines of, ”From now on, you can’t trust anyone but yourself.” But the reality of it was that you had to treat everyone with open arms out here, even if you didn’t want to. How else were you supposed to make a living?

Speaking of living, you had made home in a sweet little storage garage that had been parked down an alley. You had to coax the person living in it with a little extra money to move out, but no less than a week of being there you had set up shop.

The isolation provided you with comfort, and there was plenty of space for you to sort and store all of your things. Even if you wanted to head out, all you had to do was pull the gate down and lock it up. Pretty sweet deal for just a little extra cash.

There wasn’t much to do here though. You often just had to sit and wait, hoping someone would catch your graffiti sign outside the alley and come walking in. Most of the time it came unexpectedly, and often worst of times like when you were about to head off to bed or pack up and leave for the rest of the day.

Today was pretty quiet. Some man had came to you in the early morning asking if you could spare him some leg compartments in return for some blood, which of course you agreed to. Other than that, you sat quietly with yourself for the rest of the day, humming along to the music that came from the fast food place around the corner.

However, in the late afternoon of the alley, you heard hurried footsteps echo down from the right. Three boys soon came into sight, running as fast as they could, one carrying another over his shoulder. They were wide-eyed, panicky. Each ranged in age, the youngest being a child held up over a teenager, the eldest looking close to a young adult leading the way. 

It wasn’t till they got closer that you realized they were coming towards you and your little set up, and the youngest had a blue liquid trailing from down his head. The eldest male ran up to you, hands shaking in front of him, stained in red. His pupils were small, like he had seen a ghost and watery with fear. “Are you (y/n)?” His voice trembled.

Immediately you got up as the other two came in, all of a sudden everything was tense. “Yes,” You were quick to answer. "What's the problem?”

“Please,” He begged, taking the boy from the teenage male’s arms. "Our friend, he's badly injured. He needs a new processor and external repairs.” He laid him down on the empty table that separated you both, the child’s limb falling limp and unnaturally on it. Yet, his eyes moved back and forth, fingers twitching slightly, showing signs of life.

He had a small laceration along his upper chest, an amputated but repaired leg, a head injury, and scrapes that revealed the metal under his synthetic skin. He had a lot of open wounds that caused major blood loss, but what concerned you the most was the cut very close to his heart.

Your hand instinctively went in the direction of your bag full of parts and bag, but then you remembered. Your bag had been stolen. You had no parts to weld onto this boy, no wires or tubes. And you couldn’t sew his skin back up, he had internal bleeding that you couldn’t see. It would clot up and damage more circuits, leading to a very short ending for this boy.

“I'm sorry.” You apologized, putting your hands on the table. Never have you ever turned someone down for service, but this time you couldn't do anything about it. “I don't have the supplies to fix him.”

That answer was not suitable. “What do you mean you don't have them?!” He yelled angrily, fear in his voice. You flinched slightly, looking down at the kid. Of all times for this to happen..

“Do you understand? He's dying! If you don't help him he will shut down!” He slammed his hands down resulting in you pulling yours back.

But there was nothing you could do to save this boy. It was utterly bad timing, and any other time you would’ve been ready. He was running out of time, time you didn’t have. If he had hours, maybe by a miracle you could’ve.

“I'm sorry,” you apologized again, hands fidgeting around for something to do in distress. “I can give him fluids for him to stay functional for a little longer but there's nothing I can do.” You reassured, examining him quick over again as of you were missing something. Missing something that could help you in any way, anything.

But as you predicted, there was nothing. The teenaged boy had tears streaming down his face, visibly and violently shaking. His fists were curled up and had moved to hold his stomach. He was quiet, a small hiccup from him once and a while. His bright, blue eyes were unmoving against the younger child, yet frightened to come any closer to him. He remained behind the eldest, as if for protection.

The eldest had a strong hold on the dying boy’s hand, irritated and flooded eyes piercing your skin. His jaw was clenched, and you could hear the anger in his breath as he exhales slowly, as of trying to calm down.

He leaned forward slightly, over the table as if trying to get a better look into your eyes that couldn't meet him. Opening his mouth, his tone was deep and threatening.“Fluids are not going to fix him,” he said dark and slow.

“He needs a new processor and external repairs.” He scarily repeated again, placing a hand lightly over the boy’s chest. His arm spasmed for a moment, before trying to reach out to him. It was if all of a sudden his anger had disappeared, and the man looked down at him with a quivering lip. He took ahold of his hand and held onto it, taking in a shaky breath.”I’m here, I'm here buddy. It's okay, it's okay, it's gonna be okay. Alright?”

His voice grew soft and sad, yet there was no response other than the twitch of an eyelid from the boy. It was too late for him, at this point it'd be better to upload his memory and hard drive in another android, but you had never done that nor could you afford it. Cyberlife did it all the time for half the price of a real android, but you knew all too well that wasn't an option for these people. 

“You have to help him, he's all we have left.” The man cried out to you, fear engraved in his pooling eyes.

“I can't,” It was too late. They had gotten here too late, and you weren't prepared for it. It was the first time in a long time you had to let one go. “I really can't, I'm sorry.”

“I heard that you’ve saved handfuls of androids, taking them in no matter the condition.” Venom spilled through his teeth, finally coming back to look up at you. You could almost see the blood boil from beneath his skin, eyes cutting into your throat.

“But you deny us, because of what?!” He yelled, slamming his fists against the table. You flinched as you heard it crack under the table, cringing at the thought that could quite possibly be your arms soon enough with how his voice sounded.

You couldn't answer him, you wouldn't. Anything you had to say would only anger him more, and you assumed that excuses wouldn't go that far with this guy.

“Fine then.” He settled, wiping his nose before taking a step back from the child. You were relieved for a moment, a breath escaping your lungs that you didn't know you were holding. But that didn't last very long.

“If you won’t fix him, we will.”

Everything in your body stopped. For a second, you thought you choked on the thick air that stood between you both, fear paralyzing you.

It wasn't till this moment that you realized you had hugely mistaken the look in his eyes as anger. It wasn't just that-no, it was something more. A split second where you could see a mix between animal instinct and a look that could kill. That gaze that only a man desperate enough to save his child would have. The way a predator look down at its prey.

He stood up a little straighter, and you backed up slowly. There was no time for you to get any words out, to even defend yourself or defuse the situation before he lunged himself at you. It was only a matter of seconds you had yourself pressed up against a corner trying to get away, the weight of the situation hitting you like a brick wall. Or more like a metal one. 

The moment he pinned you against the wall you had lost all control of any power you had in the situation. His hand grabbed your throat, finger nails like daggers in your skin. His hold was tight, tight enough where you could only get sputters of breath with each attempt you made to wiggle out of his grasp.

You could feel all the pressure building up in your face, choking each gasp you could get. Your fingers, which clawed at his own, began to tingle. A pounding headache soon became more apparent to you, and your teeth gritted hard against each other with your struggle. 

He reeled back his leg before kneeing you directly into the stomach. All the air you held onto was completely knocked out of you, and your hands loosened up for a moment as you endured the pain. Everything buzzed, vision blurring in and out like a camera out of focus. You could hear your heart in your ears, lungs starting to burn with the lack of oxygen you were getting.

You kicked and pushed with everything you had, hands clawing at his arms hard enough to draw tiny droplets of blue thirium. Yet, even at that, he had no reaction to that. No pain receptors to take in all that you did to get out of his grasp.

However, you were able to reciprocate the same he had done to you. Lifting both of your legs up from the ground, you used all your force to kick his stomach. He was thrown back, stumbling a couple of steps enough for you to had been freed from his deathly grip. You involuntarily gasped, lightheaded and dizziness controlling your vision for a second, but not your movements.

You regained yourself faster than he could, looking around for a weapon. There was nothing, nothing heavy or sharp around. Your sleeping bag laid on the floor, and the table was too far away to shove at him, and he was blocking the only exit you had out of here.

The crackle of fire coming from the lit barrel had finally reached your ears, but you didn't even have a second to think about it before you stuck your robotic arm in there for something to work with. Sure enough, there were jagged and razor sharp bits of metal you had thrown in there earlier this week from clients that had no use of them.

You pulled one piece out, hoping to use it as a dagger and stab the unstable man before you. But just as you turned your head to meet him, a bat collided with the side of your face, immediately knocking you to the ground.

It was the boy, the one that had stood quietly behind the pleading man. He had stepped in to take his place, taking you down in a single hit. He had hit you so hard that you swore you could feel the dent, blood running down the side of your face and into your left eye.

Thankfully, you didn't feel it. You had no pain receptors, no sensitive nerve endings attached to the left side of your body. Which was also the reason you were able to tell who and what had hit you.

Yet, just because you were half robotic, didn't mean that it didn't surprise the hell out of you. You could feel the blood pumping through your veins, a electric response of adrenaline and pressure zipping through your nerve all the way down to your fingertips.

You tried to scramble back up, but were met with a sharp kick to the right side of your jaw. Now that hurt. Bleeding hands came to coddle your face, a noise somewhere between a choke and a scream emitting from your throat. You could taste that oh-so-familiar metallic red blood across your teeth and tongue, spitting it on the ground you laid on.

But that wasn't the end of it for you.

He continuously kicked you in the head, despite you yelling your apologizes and telling him to stop. He had no pity nor mercy to your cries. If anything, it fueled him more.

One kick directly to your temple sent your vision blurry once more, and suddenly everything in your body became limp. You could hear the ringing in your ears again, white noise overpowering the faint sounds of grunting and commands from above you. Everything started spinning, and your feet twitched as if there was no ground beneath them.

Blinking a few times, you could see the now gigantic looking man standing tall and pointing at the young boy. "Take him, I'll grab the stuff.” You roughly heard, eyelids stuttering to stay open. A throbbing pain, like a heavy pulse cane over your whole body, trying to sway you into sleep. But you were all to sure that'd be a sleep you wouldn't wake up from.

After the man was finished collecting your stuff, he briefly came back over to you, kneeling down in front of your face. For the first time, you had seen his LED. It glowed a menacing red, eyes reflecting it back onto you.

“Now,” he breathed, tilting his head a little to the side. "Let's see how you like it. Slowly dying, scared, afraid, and alone-knowing that all you need to stay alive is in a couple of bags just a few feet away from you, being kept away from you.”

With those last words, he stood up and started walking away. You called out to him, some words of static fear and terror pleading with him, but managed no reaction other than a final glance over his shoulder before he headed out.

Your head pounded with unimaginable pain. Your heart blaring in your eardrums, and with the combination of pain and taste of metal you thought you'd throw up. Lungs prickled with every gasp and wheeze you gave, coughs stabbing your organs like a knife. You had only ever felt this much pain once in your life, and even then you had only felt it for a few split seconds.

Everything swayed back and fourth, like a hammock. Black spots poking your sight, and a heavy blanket of warmth started to cover your whole body. It felt too easy to slip and fall into it, but there was nothing in you to cling onto consciousness. No effort, only exhaust. You couldn't tell what fell first, your eyelids or your vision. But with every exhale, you further accepted the growing black darkness that enveloped your body, sinking deeper into the abyss of unconsciousness.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this chapter makes up for the previous chapter wait. Thank you for all the support everyone has been giving to the series! I’m sorry if this chapter wasn’t as good, I was rushing to get it out for you guys. Because of this, I’ll be spending more time on chapter 5 and most likely won’t be updating it till next week. I apologize for the inconvenience, but this was the hardest chapter for me to write so far. I hope you enjoy~

A pounding headache was the first thing you could remember. Everything felt like it was spiraling in dizzying circles, and you thought like you were going to throw up. It was like a bad hangover, you had never felt any sicker in your life. A nauseating ring in your ear only made it worse, as well as the unusual quietness you were not quite used to.

Your hand, unsteadily leaving the surface below you, went up to hold the massive migraine that ate at your skull. Yet, you didn’t feel your skin, instead a cold wet cloth that sent a electric shiver down your back and something wrapped around your forehead. It wasn’t one second later that it was gently grabbed and placed back at your side.

A groan of pain escaped your lips in response, moving your head to the side. You’re first thought was that it was one of your nearby alleyway neighbors, which in that case was fine because you trusted them enough. But when your eyes cracked open, they were met with bright lights. Everything was fuzzy and blurred.

And then you began to realize you were not where you thought you were. You were not in the safety and comfort of your storage garage, no longer in the brick built alleyway you made home in. No, no you were far from it. You blinked a few times before attempting to sit up, quickly met with a force lightly pushing your shoulders down with quiet, hushed words you couldn’t make out.

Immediately you began to freak out. Your hands went flying in front of you, pushing away the blurred figure touching you. Your limbs were not all awake yet, and sharp pins and prickles began to attack your legs as you made an effort to start kicking them. Panicked, you felt yourself holding onto your breath.

“(Y/n)! (Y/n), calm down! It’s me!” The figure said in a quiet, indoor voice. You tensed up for a second, blinking a few more times before cloudy objects and shapes started to become more clearer to you. Soon, that figure began to resemble someone you met before, someone you never thought to hear from again.

“..Markus?”

“It's me-It's okay, you’re okay. You're safe.” He was quick to reassure, trying to guide you back down.

“Where…?” You pushed against his touch, pulling your arm out of his soft grip to support yourself as you sat up. Immediately you felt a shooting burn run down your forearm to your wrist that held you up, a hiss of pain slipping from your gritted teeth.

You pulled your hand to your chest to be coddled, only to feel unstable and off balance. Just as you started leaning off to the side, Markus was quick to place a hand on your back and hold you up. The wet cloth fell from your forehead and onto the blanket over you.

“You must rest, (y/n).”

“Where are we?” Your eyes met his sympathetic ones, eyebrows knitting together.

“Jericho,” He started to adjust you back down to the bed you realized you were leaning on, but you refused to go back down. You weren't going to fall back asleep till you had answers.

“No, no-I wanna sit up.”

He gave you a begging look, but at your persistence he sighed and gave in. Markus readjusted you to sit up against the wall the bed was pushed up to, fully facing him now with your feet hanging off the edge.

For a minute, you just took a minute to breathe down the nauseating lump in your throat. Markus noticed this and took the water bottle from the metal bedside stand and handed it to you. You gladly took it with eagerness, but his hand reached out quickly to intervene.

“Sip it, don't down it. You’ll make yourself sick.”

You followed his directions, eyes starting to glaze over back into a drowsy state. His hand came up to touch your forehead, which you instinctively tensed up at, only to realize he was only trying to help. A frown crossed his face, coming back to look down at you.

“100.6, you have a mild fever, (y/n).” He walked away for a moment to pull up a metal stool, getting eye level with you.”Are you still feeling nauseous?”

“Still?”

“You woke up in the middle of the night and said you felt like you were going to ‘spill your guts’ out all over the floor.”

“Huh,” You hummed.”Didn't remember that one.”

“Probably for the best, you seemed miserable, not that you don't look any better now.” While he said it with concern for your wellbeing, you couldn't help but snicker.

“You're calling me ugly now? Wow, thanks Markus.” You flashed him a smile and his expression changed from serious to relaxed. He even managed to work up a small smile, shaking his head.

“I never said that,” He said defensively, but you weren't having it.

“You think you know a guy after sewing him up so he can go diddle daddle with his android friends.” He rolled his eyes, giving you a look.

“I'm serious, y/n. You need to rest, being up like this will only make you feel worse.” 

“You got that right. I haven't been up for more than a couple minutes and you’ve already hurt my feelings.” You muttered under your breath playfully, a smirk growing on your lips.

He took the bottle from your hands, setting in on the metal table next to the bed. You could see the amusement in his eyes glaze over his hardened face, smiling to yourself. You weren't a big fan of being told what to do, even when you were about 3 minutes from throwing up all over the floor. You liked to have control of the situation.

He grabbed the wet cloth from you, walking away for a moment to rewet it in a bucket sitting in the corner. You took this moment to look over yourself, and shit-you were fucked up. You had bandages all over yourself. On your arms, legs, over your stomach, on your neck, and on your head. The one on your leg was bleeding red, your arm bleeding blue. You must've ripped opened something while fighting with Markus, but you didn't remember getting any of these.

You also noticed that you weren't wearing one of the 3 outfits you owned. Instead, you were dressed in a white t-shirt and comfy black shorts.

Quickly, you pulled the blanket over yourself as to hide it. You had told Markus you were an Android before.. you gained his trust that way. How would that change if he found out you weren't? Or at not fully.

He glanced over at the sound of your quick movement, eyebrow cocking.”Hm? What's wrong?”

“Nothing,” you mumbled. He brought back over the cloth, and placed it back on top of your head. Having a suspicion, he looked you over once again and caught the blue blood stained bandage you were so concerned to keep from him.

“Ah,” He clicked his tongue.”So this is what you were hiding.” Markus gave you another look, and you raised your hands up in defensive.”You caught me.”

He grabbed new bandages and started to unwrap the one old one from your arm.”You know you can trust me, right?” He said as if it was pretty obvious.

“The guy who threatened to kill me a month ago is trustworthy? I would have never guessed.” At this, he finally gave in a chuckled slightly.

He had to resew your synthetic skin back together since you ripped the stitching, but it didn’t take that much time. You were starting to take notice the growing pain your leg was in, as well as other pains all over the right side of your body. It burned, not a lot, but enough to make you uncomfortable. He saw this on your face very quickly, looking around for the source of it till he came to find you putting slight pressure on your leg.

Just as he went to go reach out and pull the blanket to see, you yanked it further up. He gave you a warning look, trying to inspect it. “Y/n, let me see it.”

“No.”

He got ahold of the covers and revealed the blood soaked bandages on your leg. He went out to touch them, but you resisted against it, kick him away and trying to hide it. “Y/n, stop.” He said in attempt to calm you. “It's okay. Y/n, just let me help you.”

You were hesitant, but slowly unbid and let him examine it. He was really gentle, touch ghosting as to not inflict any pain and slow to not startle you any further. It helped you relax a little more, but guilt laid like a stone in your stomach.

“Y’know you never really gave me a chance to explain myself. You kinda just assumed I was an android.” You said in defense, trying to defuse any spark you may had just brought up.

“You never really corrected me.” He was quick to shoot back, no disappointment in his voice as he concentrated on fixing you up. Technically he was right, you lied to him and just went with the whole thing.

“Fair enough.” You caved, knowing that the fault laid on you and not him.

“I used to be a caretaker for my father, before I came here.” He admitted, cleaning the needle he used on your bionic arm. “I'm not mad at you for not telling me, but I specialize in this sort of thing. There's no reason for you withdraw something like this from me.” 

You winced and hissed as he began to resew it back up, and quick he gave you some more painkiller pills. They wouldn't help for right now, but would instead dull the increasing growing pains of the rest of the injuries on the right side of your body. He was quick about it though, and before you knew it he was rebandaging it back up.

“So,” You asked, leaning back to take in his face. It was worn in with stress, not that it wasn’t before. But he looked… exhausted. Something you didn’t even know androids could feel. “Why am I here, Markus?” 

“You’d rather me have kept you in that alley?” He questioned you back, copying your actions and crossing his arms.

You shrugged.”It’s my home, I paid quite a bit to get that spot. It’s probably been inhabited by someone else by now.”

He looked at you for a long while, as if he was thinking back and regretting his decisions. You could never really tell what Markus was feeling, or maybe it was more of what he was thinking. He didn’t have an LED to tell you if he was processing anything you were saying, but he had been able to retain information you had revealed to him previously a month ago.

This only confused you because you were concerned with the condition of his processor. His ability to work and operate properly as an android does. But he did more than that. It was like he was programmed to appeal to human emotion, to sympathize and react based on the human condition. He had his own character, unlike what you’ve seen.

He followed every command you had given him, or at least anything you’ve asked of him. There was some resistance when you first met, but now it seemed as if that had all changed. As if he had adapted to you.

“You know I didn’t want to come here,” you out right told him so a month ago. This served as a good example as to why you were concerned, he did not follow with your request.

“You were concerned with your safety being compromised, as I recall.” He stated, eyes softing as he relaxed a little more.”As far as I’m concerned, this is the safest place you could be in at the moment.”

“How would you know?” You pried, trying to get a real answer from him.

His eyebrows knitted together as if the answer wasn’t already clear to you.”You were beaten in the streets by some androids who robbed you for no good reason. You think being out there right now would be the best option for you?”

You shrugged once more, eying him down to look for a reaction.”How do I know that won’t happen here?”

His face softened once again, only this time it wasn’t because he content. It was because he was being challenged.”I promise you, no one here is going to hurt you, y/n.”

A promise. You couldn’t keep those, and you for sure knew Markus wasn’t supposed to. Appealing to human emotion, promising trust. This made you question yourself, whether you could trust him anymore. Here’s the thing, he didn’t seem dangerous anymore. It was scary how calm and cool he was with you after you helped him out, and while you didn’t think much of it he seemed to think it was enough to save your life.

But could androids even think that way? To determine the value of someone’s life based on deeds and wrongs. Or were they simply minicking actions, such as the genius billionaire Kampski had mentioned. The one who made them in the first place.

“Being grouped up isn’t safe, anyone can find us here.”

He wasn’t taking it though, with every push you gave he came back with a reasonable defense.”No one will find us here, you’d have to be in need to find this place to even know where to look for it.”

You caved, you didn’t want to argue you it any further. He seemed determined to get you to like this place, and while you didn’t mind it all that much you weren’t sure of anything about it. The location, the capacity, the people in it. What you hated most about it was Markus wasn’t wrong. The streets wouldn’t hold you much protection for long, and soon you’d be on the run again.

“You wouldn’t be opposed to staying here for a few more days, would you? At least till your fever has gone down.” 

“I guess not,” Combing your fingers through your hair, your eyes began to feel tired again. They drooped, the sudden weight of your tiredness become apparent to you. Markus smiled and stood back up, help you move back down to your pillow.

“Then you should get your rest then.” Now you could really see the caretaker in him. He made sure you were all comfortable, refilled your water, and put more painkillers on the table for if you woke up again in pain before anything else. You weren’t all that sure if you deserved, but you didn’t stop him from doing so.

He did a second check over of your vitals before he left, grabbing you extra blankets and such for your chills. You wish he could stay and talk to you for a little while long, but multiple people were already calling his name and requesting his presence. You wouldn’t keep him here no longer than he needed to be.

He clicked off the hanging light bulb above you both and quietly made his way out, his voice hushed in a whisper to the people he spoke with just as he closed the door. You sighed, staring out at the bland walls before you. You hadn’t slept in a room for couple years now, and while it wasn’t much, it felt cozy. Homely.

\---

The last couple of days at Jericho we're not quite like you had expected.

You found out it was a huge abandoned docked ship, which in your head didn't sound like the best place for a bunch of androids to hang out at. It was ‘hidden in plain sight’ as Markus had put it, but still a bunch of curious teenagers who wanted to play pirate and drink in secret could probably find it in less than an hour if they were looking for it.

The place itself wasn't all too bad. There was plenty of space for you to wander about, a couple of floors and broken levels for you to fidget with. The control center/captains seat where Markus held most of his meetings, it had a birds eye view over everything and everyone on the ship. 

You would spend an hour or two up there pressed up against the window, watching mechanical machines chat back and forth with each other freely and do leisurely activities to pass the time. It fascinated you to even begin to think that androids were able to control themselves like that, think and talk, express themselves through a stream of consciousness they built themselves.

Markus had explained to you that the people they took in were ‘waking up’, as if they were born in captivity, but built to live and breath with thoughts of their own. He said society referred to it as deviancy, mostly because they think it's a bad thing. An android swerving off its own path, doing as it feels right instead of following its owners’ orders.

You tried to shed some light on Markus, give him your own take on deviants yourself as a human. It was scary, seeing something we made to fix our problems develop its own. Markus and had a very long, but civil and chill dispute about this with you. You both were very open-mined to each other's struggle and why things were like this, and at the end you were kinda happy that you both were able to accept each other's arguments dispute being different and with little to no insight from the other’s point of view. You just wished that were the same for everyone here.

 

The people inside of Jericho were very tense at your arrival. Everyone stared at you, analyzing your every movement and your every expression. You thought the half android part of you would have them quite relieved, but it only seemed to make it worse that a human was ‘mimicking’ an android.

Markus did help you branch off on your own though, introducing you to some of his close friends like Josh and Simon. They were both nice and sweet, eager to help and make sure you had a comfortable stay. Josh encouraged you to meet other people and build a stable reputation amongst the crowds of wary androids. Simon served mostly as a companion, a willing companion. He mostly came to check up on you and your wounds, have long deep conversations with you, and mess around to the point you were both getting in trouble with Markus. 

He opened you up to the idea of helping out around Jericho, especially when he was getting busier with work that he couldn't provide entertain to you for very long. It’d help keep you busy and give you chance to prove that we're weren't all that bad to the skeptical machines.

So you did what you did best, and repaired those that came in with injuries and wounds. It allowed you to socialize a bit more on your own, talking to individuals and their intake on Jericho. You listened to a variety of stories, how their journey was from there to here, what changes they've seen in themselves, and how they risk anything to get themselves the freedom and voice they deserve.

If Markus did anything, he for sure got a dedicated and determined group together and enforced the belief that they deserved bettered than to be treated as slaves and servants to selfish cowardly humans. Good on him, really. It was a good cause to fight for, one with big consequences and a lot of risk, but you agreed with them to an existent. You were not so keen on those you've met who were willing to kill for it, knowing nothing but war would spark as a result of it.

You could definitely say at the end of the day you had under estimated the the place and were mistaken for the sketchiness. Most of the people here were here for its exact purpose as entailed. A safe place for those who have none. You were glad to have been able to stay here, and did as much as you could to prolong your stay.

Clicking your pen continuously as you walked up the metal stairs, you briefly looked through the charts of androids you were given that requested repair and minor external upgrades. You were going to talk to Markus about one android in particular, a little boy that had been stranded and left for dead. He remembered you a lot of the boy you were unable to save, and guilt ate away at you till you were able to prioritize his repairs. Markus had asked you to follow up with his condition with him, considering robotic androids were slim to none around here and he was without any family.

You came close to the meeting room when you could hear a faint quarrel coming from the general direction. Curious, you stayed close to the wall, leaning right next to the door frame as you listened in.

“Did you even consider how dangerous this was for us!?” Immediately you recognized the voice. It was North, a woman who Markus had introduced you to but had no real intentions on becoming your friend like Simon and Josh had. She was a little cold and cruel, harsh with no sympathy for your recovery and always had something negative to say about any topic Josh or Simon brought up.

You couldn't fully say you disliked her, but she was definitely challenging at times to like. She wasn't open minded to anything you had to say about androids like Markus had been, and she surely wasn't going to put up with anything you tried to defend humans of. Overall, she just didn't like the fact that you were at all human, and she wasn't afraid to express that.

“There was nothing dangerous about it! It was no different than if we took in another android.” Markus argued, exhaust in his voice.

“They could've been followed, they could be tracked.” A sickly poison laid on her tongue as she hissed at Markus, and even from out in the hallway you could tell that he was about to be told off for whatever he had done. “You should've talked to us before going out and doing something stupid like that.”

“What-What did you expect me to do? They were dying!” Peering slightly in, you could see them both. North had narrow eyes pointed at him, a snarl resting on her face. Markus had rough lines against his forehead, and something told you that this wasn't the first time they had argued about this. “There was no time to wait around for you guys to make a call. I made it, I'll be responsible for whatever consequences come with it.”

“And you think we want to face those consequences with you?” She asked, crossing her arms with a scoff. “You don't even know that person, let alone know if you can trust them.”

“Y/n is not a threat to us,” It was then that you finally understood what was going on. You blinked. A pit of hurt started to grow in your chest, but you couldn't pull yourself away. You had to hear more.

“And how do you know, Markus? Just because they sewed you up all good, free of charge, makes them trustworthy?” Disgust. It was disgust that grew inside of you. How could she even think that of you? All you had ever done here for the time of your stay was help out. What had you ever done to her? Nothing. Not even make a rude comment, or even talk behind her back due to the inch of hope that one day she'd get used to you and you'd be mutual acquaintances, if not friends.

“Being naive and ignorant will get you killed Markus, it'll get us all killed.”

“They have done nothing but good since they've been here.”

“Why can't you see it! They're baiting you, Markus!” She yelled in distraught, disbelief. “We fight for our resistance, our freedom, our voice against the humans. We fight against their manipulation against us, their hold and control, for our willpower! And what do you do? You let one of them use you, earn your trust so that they can destroy you, destroy all of us.”

The thought hung in the quiet air between them, and slowly you began to see the weight of everyone's anxiousness towards you. It was the first time in a long time that you had felt accepted in a place, at home with those just wanting to move on from their past selves. But now, it was as if you had been thrown into the cold water, realizing that you weren't wanted at all. You were a danger to them, to all of them. And that was just the reality of it, there was no way to sugar coat it.

“I've never seen you this stupid.”

Markus’ eyes dragged upwards, and caught with the weight of yours, tense face softening.

“Y/n..”

You stood up and took a step into the room. You glanced at North for a second, standing a little straighter and giving her a nod of acknowledgement before moving onto Markus. He looked defeated, sorry written all over his face. It was clear he was wished he had known sooner that you were there, but a part of you felt good knowing he was still willing to stand up for you without your presence. But he wasn't the right one in this conversation, both you and North knew that.

“I patched up the little boy, he should be up and fully functional in a few hours give or take.” You quickly informed, hugging your clipboard against your chest. “Just thought I'd let you know, sorry for interrupting your conversation.”

You gave a small nod to both, turning on one foot and excusing yourself, a bunch of bottled up past emotions mixed with confusion starting to bubble from within you.

While you were out of the room, you could still hear them both as you continued to walk down the hall. North huffed,“If I find out they’re installing viruses or tracker in our people, I won't even think twice before making sure they don't ever see the light again.”

That, with everything else going on in your mind, was the tipping point for everything to spill right out of you.

\---

“Leaving so quick now, are we?” The voice from behind startled you in your dozed off state, head whiping around. You were met with delight in sight of one content blonde. He gave a light-hearted and supportive smile as he always did, but something else lingered in his eyes.. you couldn't quite pin point it. A sorrow, perhaps.

“I'm used to it by now,” You told Simon, resuming packing your things up. It wasn't the first time you were kicked to the curb, but hey, by this time you had no reason to be mad. It was going to happen anyways, you were fooling yourself if you thought it wouldn't. “Besides, I’m getting quite the vibe around here that I'm not wanted.”

“Who gave you that idea?” When you glanced back, his eyebrows were furrowed together as if he genuinely had no idea. 

Of course you wouldn't say who, mostly because you were sure he was good friends with North. Well, maybe, it didn't seem like she had many friends to begin with due to her objective and negative attitude. “No one in particular, but it's not like this place exactly screams ‘humans are welcomed’ y’know?”

“Can't blame you there,” he laughed lightly, taking a seat on one of the crates near you. That was one thing you liked about Simon, he was pretty casual to talk to. He liked to have one on one conversations rather than be grouped up and silenced, and you quite enjoyed hearing his opinions of other people and topics you wouldn't have even guessed he was interested in.

He really was the perfect best friend in your eyes. There to sit through your torment in the middle of the night with you to comfort you when you tore open your stitchings trying to go to the bathroom. There to gossip and be silly, make sure you kept your spirits up. This place sucked, not the shelter condition but the atmosphere in it. So down and dreary. He made it, well to put it in simple terms, suck less.

“You've done great things here, y/n. I thank you on behalf of everyone here for everything.” He thanked, bowing his head lightly.

“Thank you for providing me food and water,” He had gone out everyday to go get you food and drinks for the duration of your stay. From what Josh had told you, that wasn't easy either. Simon wasn't big on going out and all that, especially with his anxiety and paranoia. He wasn't fond of going alone, but no one else found the job of nursing a human back to health as appealing as he did. “I know that couldn't have been easy for you to get.” 

“Well from my understanding, if you have a pretty enough face and talk with a slower, lower voice, you can get many human necessities.” 

“You did not,” There was no power in your body to hold back the laughter and snorts you wish you could stifle. You couldn't even imagine-that couldn't have been the same Simon you were talking to now.

“Why not?” He laughed with you, grinning sheepishly as if it was no big deal. “No ones going to give me free money. But hey, the cashier was perfectly fine with giving me some water and a couple of happy meals.”

“I hate you so much,” You shook your head, snickering to yourself as you continue to imagine how that must've played out in Simon’s head before he had walked into the place. This boy… he was going to be the death and rebirth of you.

You checked off everything on the little piece of blank paper you scrapped up from charts, making sure you had everything ready to go before you left. Last thing you'd want to do is leave something here and have to come back to North glaring knives at you.

“Where are you even gonna go?”

“Dunno, fine out along the way.” He gave a disapproving look, and you rolled your eyes at him. “At least act like your somewhat happy to see me go so I don't have to feel guilt.”

“Oh yeah, because I'm ecstatic our only human friend is leaving me to go live in a dumpster.” He gave a pout, and you quirked a brow.

“And you wouldn't call this place a scrap dump?”

“Low blow.”

You laughed and nudged him slightly, grin plastered over you face because you knew you were right.“You're too sweet for this world, Simon.” It must've been contagious, because the blond too started to smile again once more.

“Y/n?” It was then you both turned to hear another voice, and the smile you had shared had fallen from your face. It was Markus, who you hadn't talked to since the ‘incident,’ avoiding him so you could try and leave quietly without causing a ruckus. Knowing him having gone through so much effort to keep you here, you could only imagine his disappointment when he found out you were leaving and told off North.

You weren't mad at her. She just, opened your eyes, you could say. You hadn't realize how much danger you were causing Jericho, how they had a right to be wary of you. All this time in the duration of your stay you were starting to be believe like you were one of them, like you were doing the right thing and helping out your people. But the truth is you stood on a thin line. A line too thin that you'd have to fall on one side or the other. You were nothing but a human being to them, and nothing but an android to human beings. The reality however, was that there was no side for you in this growing battle between them, and you'd just be another innocent person caught in the middle.

So really, you thanked her. You figured to rip off the bandage rather than sulk, whine, and cry about it till someone had to tell it straight to your face to get you out. You rather appreciated the blunt brick wall of realization to the face, and packed up your things with no extra thought about it. She saved you from the extra pain.

From the look on his face, he wasn't all too happy to see you go. His eyes, while still beautiful and bright as they always were, had a glaze of grey over them. His jaw was tense, and fists locked one over the other. He had this presence, this negativity emitting from his whole body, and the whole mood you and Simon had had been sucked in. You wondered if the blond could feel it too, looking over to him but his face remained at his default resting.

“Here, I thought you should have this before you go.” He took a step closer, working through his trench coat to find something. It was the first time you had noticed it was new compared to the one you had last seen, and his clothing resembled something more of a leader rather than a runaway android with horrible sense of blending in.

He pulled out a gun from his pocket, and by instinct you took a step back. Those blue and green darted back up to you, before dragging back down to click safety on then back off, like he was showing you there was nothing to be afraid of. “Its just in case.” He reassured, before carefully passing it over to you. For a second it laid limp in your hand, wondering why in the the world you would ever accept a thing like this. Where there had come a time in the world you'd actually need protection, unable to work a situation out by just talking through it.

But like he said, just in case.

“Thank you, Markus.” You pocketed the gun in the side of your pants, tucking your shirt over to conceal the weapon. “I appreciate the effort you went to go and black market a gun for me.”

“We actually have some on standby,”

“Oh, how reassuring.” You mumbled. “Well, good luck with your.. whatever you guys are doing.”

He had a more robotic tone to his voice, and you couldn't tell if that was his way of covering up the obvious fact he didn't want you to go or if it was covering up for the obvious pent up emotions he had spinning through his head. You wished you could just sit there with him and tell him it was alright and have a long talk about what was right for Jericho. But you couldn't, you'd only be stalling and fooling him into thinking there'd be any chance you'd stay.

“You left this in your room.” He added, pulling out a red handkerchief and giving it back over to you. “Oh, thanks..” For a second you froze up, but accepted it too, pocketing it as well this time instead of wearing it. Probably for the best anyways.

A long silence fell between the three of you, and you could see Simon fidgeting awkwardly on the crate beside you as he glanced back and forth from you both, trying to make up some kind of conversation in his head before he spoke it. Markus beat him to it before he even had a chance to mumble it.

“You don't have to go, y/n.” He said with sorrow for what you thought was the millionth time. You were starting to get sick of it, and a part of you wanted him to stop siding with you and be reasonable. You'd poke and pride at his buttons another time however, you didn't want to start up anything before you left and leave on a good note.

“You are more than welcomed to stay for as long as you need.” It had been long enough. A full week and then some. You didn't need any more time, you were here long enough to recover and that was your only intention to stay for.

“It's fine, Markus.” You waved it off,“I've stayed long enough as it is, I don't think it'd be smart to stay in one spot for too long anyways.”

“I apologize for what she had said, I didn't know you were listening.”

“Don't apologize, I agree with her. You have no reason to trust me, and I'm only extra weight. You don't need me here.”

Conflict swarmed his eyes, internal gears stopping and picking up the pace from within him that you couldn't see. You didn't mean to start up an argument, but that spark he had seem to fizzle out soon and accept defeat.“Alright,” he caved, not wishing to further disagree with your judgment.

“Is there anything else I can do for you before you go?” He asked one last time, hands folded themselves behind him. You threw a bag over your shoulder, leaning up against the crate. You wished there was, something to hold you back a little longer and maybe even have Markus convince you to stay. But it was too late for that now.

“Yes, in fact there is one,” you hummed, tapping your fingers against the wooden box in pretend thought. “Keep this one in place, I have a feeling he’ll get a little out of control.” You nudge your head towards Simon, and he put his hand to his chest in fake hurt of disbelief.

“Me? What do you mean!?”

“Mm, yes, I'll see what I can do about that.” Markus grinned, giving you a wink in return. You all laughed, but as it dwindled you could feel the heavy heat of grief lay in between the three of you. Markus made the first move, opening up his arms to hug you goodbye.

The embrace, while kind and wanted, only made you feel worse.“Stay safe for me, y/n.” He mumbled quietly, voice soft and low. You gave a slight squeeze before pulling back, still lingering in his arms for a second longer to look up and gave him a small smile.

“You too.” You nodded, pulling back away to do the same with Simon. He gave you the best of wishes and said you were always welcomed here, but the look you had on your face said otherwise. You adjusted the straps of your bag, shoving your cold hands in your pockets before heading your way out.

“And don't do anything stupid while I'm gone, the both of you.” You called out, earning a cheesy grin from Simon and an eye roll from Markus.

“Got it,” They both said in unison, waving you on your way out.

And with those last words, you bid farewell to your stay at Jericho.


	5. Chapter 5

Being back on your own was harder than you thought it’d be.

You were selfish in taking in the luxury Jericho provided for you. Markus managed to work you up food every day you were there, make sure you were hydrated proper, had good clothes and gave you all the supplies you needed to get back on your way out to the real world. 

And now you were paying the price. The price of giving into hunger pains, the price of a dry tongue, the price of dirtying good clothes, the price of being ignorant and naive to give repairs for the cheap inconvenience to those who didn’t need it. So here you were. Hungry, tired, dehydrated, cold, and surviving off of spare change from the mall fountain. The only thing you had managed to hold onto was the gun, and even then you didn’t find much use of it other than another thing to carry.

You didn't go back to your little storage garage set up. You didn't even bother to go look to see if you could scavenge anything from it, you just left. There were no chances to take now that you were in recovery if you had another slip up with the cops or with anyone else trying to rob you it'd be the end.

You were on your own again, no place to set up shop due to the fear of getting caught. Instead, you sat outside and watched for anyone with a broken android, and if there wasn't you'd move on. Every day, you moved on. Every hour, you moved on. You didn't make any money this way, and when you did it certainly wasn't nearly as much as you used to charge for.

A different place every day, doing the same thing for another hour or two before moving on. Just sitting and waiting, day in and day out. It was boring, it was painful, and it most certainly didn't work well for you. But what other choice did you have without risking your life?

You could never get an actual job unless it was unofficial manual labor that didn’t require any education or background. And you didn’t exactly need to be shoving your face about, the less trouble you got into for money the less you had to worry about.

A part of you had wished that you had stayed with Markus, in the beginning when he had first offered it to you. Before he knew you were human before you had a chance to even tell him yourself. Back then you could’ve gotten away with it, coming in with a fresh start and a new face just like he was. 

They would’ve looked at you no different than what he was, an android just looking for help and seeking protection. You’d have their trust, the shelter you needed, and the distraction you needed. But perhaps, in the end, it was all met to collide that way.

You had human needs. You needed to sleep, to eat, to drink. As much as you’d like to think of yourself as a robot, you weren’t. They’d all see that clearly within a few days or so, it’d all be too apparent no matter how much you’d try to hide the fact. You’d lose everyone trust, Markus’ included.

It’s not like you were doing them any harm. Sure, you were extra weight maybe, but you were tolerable. That girl made it seem like you were only trouble when you’ve probably done more than she has ever done. At least you didn’t just stand around and complain...

You sat in the park quietly by yourself watching people walk by, children play on the playground and androids assist their owners every need. You came here to relax for a bit and calm your mind of stress, considering the last spot you were in was more crime infested and had fewer androids. 

Your thoughts were interrupted however when a man wearing a beanie approached you, very awkwardly walking over and having a seat beside you on the bench. He did not sit all the way at the end, taking up enough room for another person walking by not to consider having a seat with the close proximity.

“You’re y/n, correct?” His voice was direct, eyes glancing over you from what you could see in corners of your vision. You refrained from looking at him, crossing your arms.

“Yes,” you said with a deep exhale. “Do you need assistance?”

“Yes.” His directness and objectiveness put you off for a moment, taking a pause for yourself to evaluate his stiff and sketchy approach. Yet even with this, you wouldn’t let yourself deny him of service.

“Is it extensive?” You asked, fingers fiddling with the corners of the jacket Markus gave you. From the way he spoke, the narrowing calm voice of his, it didn’t seem like much damage was done.

“No,” He said quietly, finally catching the drift that you were laying low. “Only a bullet penetration, but I’m afraid of the internal damages it may have done.”

A bullet wound, you had dealt with many of those in Jericho, mostly from those that were coming back from Supply missions. You had gained a lot of experience from over there, a bullet wound was pretty easy to handle.“Are you aware of what I charge?” You mumbled out, not trying to sound harsh by forcing it onto him. “I’m quite low on supplies, I can’t guarantee I can completely fix you. Especially without knowing what these ‘internal damages’ may be and how much harm they’ve done. It might cost you a lot of thirium.”

“Do you take money?”

Those sweet words, you hadn’t heard those words come from a client in a long time. The forgotten currency, you only earned from trading blood and going a second later to spend on parts. Needless to say, your fingers craved those green paper trees. “Yes,” you were very eager to accept. “Yes, I do.”

“Here, let’s go somewhere that’s not so... Public.” You got up and guided him quickly over by an empty nearby alley to fix him, knowing anyone walking by wouldn’t really give you a second thought if they saw you two. “You can sit down over here.” 

After he did so, you dropped your bags to the ground. “Where is it?” Without saying anything he shrugged off his jacket, revealing a hole in his shirt as well as one in his body.

“The bullet is still inside.” He was very blunt, face lacking expression of any type. It actually calmed you down a bit, not having to worry over some frantic android on the run or anything of that sort. Even the way he sat, posture straight and arms folded in his lap. There were no danger vibes that came off of him, polite with intentness for help. You didn’t get that from many clients nowadays, or ever unless it was a house call.

“Probably for the best, it’s most likely plugging the main source of your bleeding.” You hummed with further examination, pulling at the fabric clung to his skin. It was weird how there was a tear there in his shirt and on the penetration of a bullet, nor much blood around it. “The bad thing is that it may be clotting, which I’ll most likely have to drain pretty quickly so it doesn’t damage anything else.”

“I’ve had it for a couple hours, and at the angle, it entered it should take a while to build up before it becomes the primary problem.” Intelligent, he knew his stuff. You liked the way he talked, the professionalism in it. It added a touch to his personality, but it did not match his dirty and dark clothes though. If he was on the run, he must’ve stolen them.

“Still, if it damaged your skeletal structure, there's a good possibility that any broken piece of metal could create an opening for thirium spillage.” You clicked your tongue, tugging at his shirt. “Do you mind if I open your chest plate?”

“No, I don’t.” He very easily stripped the shirt from his chest, almond pale skin soon turning white for you to unscrew off the chest plating. “You seem to have studied the anatomy of androids.” With the change in subject, you were able to regain yourself. 

“Not all that different than human anatomy,” You hummed,“Almost like fixing a car, if you know the in’s and out’s of it and what does what, it’s pretty easy.” Not that you knew how to fix any of these new tech cars and cabs that roamed here in the luxurious Detroit. You had a 1991 Toyota Camry growing up to constantly work and fix from the inside and out. That was your starting point before moving onto house appliances and then soon computers to androids in a swift and smooth transition.

“Who did you learn from?” He questioned out of interest, moving his hands to rest at his sides for you.

“My mom,” you admitted with a small smile growing on your face at the thought of her. “She used to take in androids, well... She still does.” She taught you everything you knew, and you adopted her morals and habits alongside watching her do her work. Just as she always did, you never asked for money unless the client had enough to give. Thirium and word of mouth held just as much value as money did, and the safety/concern of the others’ situation was a top priority over how you could benefit from it.

He nodded, LED flashing a glimpse of yellow as he processed that information. “So it’s a family business of yours?”

“Not quite, just the only way I know how to make money on the streets without begging or stealing.” That was something else your mother taught you. People don’t give money to those they pity, they give money to those that help the pitied. “I like making my own money, not having to fall back on someone else.”

“Is she homeless as well?”

“No,” and thank the heavens she wasn’t. You’d never wish something like that upon her. “I just chose to live like this.” Mostly for the responsibility, and the fact that only you could be your own burden—Not anyone else’s. That’s why you had to leave Jericho, you were a weight they were able to afford to carry, especially when all of them had the same abilities and skill you did if not more or better. 

“So you work by yourself?” It was at this question you paused for a moment in your work, suddenly aware of the growing wariness in your chest. You weren't sure if he was merely asking just to create conversation, or if he was genuinely curious. You remained alert but continued on.

“.. yes, always have and always will.” You mumbled softly, focusing on pulling out the bullet with small tweezers you made yourself. It was deep but only caught in the weighted foam used to give androids their realistic human feel and touch—not rubber like. It acted as the tissues in androids, and but surrounded the metal and ‘muscles’ that gave them the ability to move in a range of motion. You had to be sure you weren't damaging that part while removing the bullet.

“Its a lot of work for someone who only asks for exposure and blood,” he stated, brown eyes glazing over your face. You could feel that heat rise up from your chest in your neck, swallowing thickly. He had the tone of an interrogator, which seemed to be what was going on at the moment.“You don't do it for anything else?”

“What did you say your name was again?” You changed the subject quickly, avoiding the question and tilting your head further down to avoid seeing any more of his face from the corner of your eyes.

“Connor.” You couldn't help but wonder who gave him the name. While it fit his face, it didn't seem to represent his demeanor. So machine-like, so threatening… maybe you were getting too used to deviants coming to you for help. The normal had become abnormal.

“Nice to meet you, Connor.” You murmured, voice growing quiet and hesitant.

He must have noticed it, or maybe because you tried to change the subject to a dead end topic. He took ahold of the conversation again.“Do you get a lot of clients?”

“Not around here. It varies.” You answered vaguely, pulling the bullet out carefully. You no longer took your time with being careful and gentle with Connor. After that bullet was out you made a quick check for as major bleeding, added more foam to the surrounding areas that were bleeding, and closed up his chest. “There, that should be good.”

As you backed up away and began packing, he put his shirt back on, fixing his beanie and straightening his jacket before slipping into it. “Do any of them say where they’re headed?”

“Some.” You hummed, making sure to be very careful of your answers. “Why? Are you looking for somewhere to stay?” You almost regretted asking the question, knowing you’d only dig yourself into a deeper hole. While he didn’t really seem all that dangerous, your gut told you something else.

“Yes,” He nodded, standing up just as you did. “I am looking for a place where androids could stay safe from the public. Deviants, to be specific.”

“No, I don’t. Sorry.” You were very quick to respond with, throwing your bag right over your shoulder. Whether he was genuinely in need of shelter or not, you weren’t all too concerned at the moment. There was a jitter in your veins, and it was about time you hopped on the tram anyways. “Y’know, you can keep the cash. It’s on the house.” It was a fast impulsive thought, something to say in hopes he’d just take it and leave. Some in your stomach didn't settle right as you looked back up to him for a goodbye.

He blinked, LED slowly glowing in a golden yellow spin as if he was trying to register the kind gesture. There was an awkward pause, and in it, you started to actually take note of his facial features and outfit. The hair that poked from beneath his beanie, his led, the label on the sleeve of his coat. JJ’s shack. Why did everything seem so...

“Are you sure you don’t know?” HIs voice sounded thicker, deeper. More threatening, as if he could sense your untruthfulness. His eyes felt like needles in your chest, as something cold team against your skin as you looked up at him.

It was him. The android that chased you back from the parking garage. The android that stood beside your father. The android nearly caught you on the train. It was him.

There wasn’t a second thought in your mind before you bolted for it. His hand swung to grab at your arm, but he missed by an inch. You ran directly out of the alleyway, flashbacks of last month filling your head. This was the exact same scenario.

Connor was very close behind you, and from the corner of your eye just as you made a quick turn onto the sidewalk you could see him lift his arm or move his hand or something. No less than a second later the sound of sirens hit your ears, blue and red light reflecting off of the windows of buildings beside you.

You should’ve known it from the start. His demeanor was too... too robotic, too machine-like. If he came to you to be fixed he won’t have asked so many questions, he wouldn’t have been too intrusive and curious. He set you up, mislead you into a corner that only went to jail.

There was no getting away from it this time. If you didn’t have any fight left in you, you would’ve turned around and surrendered. But instinct, impulsiveness, and pure fear of going to jail made you run like hell.

You couldn’t stay on the ground however. One cop car was on your ass, and while darting in and out of alleyways would slow it down it would only mean they’d call more for backup and assistance. You needed to get off the streets.

Connor was very close from the sounds of it. You could hear his shoes scrape the pavement, his body racing at you. What was even more worrying this time was that he wasn’t saying anything. No “Stop,” or “Do not resist.” He wasn’t here to talk another, he was here to catch you.

There was no game plan, there was only game over. Your side was already cramping up, and you were very close to hyperventilating from the anxiety of the situation. You couldn’t slow down, because as soon as you did you would be met with handcuffs.

It was a very quick idea, but as soon as you saw it, you went with you. You made a sharp left turn into another alleyway. There was a fire escape on it, a broken fire escape that would lead you on top of the roof of that building. From there that would solve one problem, not exactly the other though.

Very quickly you hopped over the bar, avoiding the gate and taking all shortcuts. There were panels that were missing, steps that had broken off. From the most part, it took most of your upper-body strength to climb it, most being your mechanical arm. This gave you an advantage, able to get further ahead of him and dust him as soon as you got to the top.

Most of the buildings in sight were flat-topped, but even then as you ran you took some sliding ones in hope to get even further ahead. Being in a residential area, there were multiple townhouses and retail building that ran down the whole street and then some, giving you plenty of room to run.

However, even with that, it was a one-way run. You hadn’t thought of it till it hit your face, but you were soon after another sprint met with a dead end. A ledge, a drop off down into an intersection off of what you estimated as a 4-floored building. No ladder, no pole, nothing to get you down onto the ground unless you turned around.

Your heart pounded, head starting to catch up with your speed and lungs starting to actually burn with the oxygen they were missing. You bent over for a minute, deep, heavy heaves of breath soon turning into almost something similar to a silent cry. Tears burning your eyes yet not quite brimming the edges yet.

Connor caught up very quickly to you, leading you to push yourself closer to the ledge till your shaky feet stood on it. You could never push yourself to do it, to jump off. Even if there was nowhere else to run, nowhere else to hide. Even if life in prison didn’t suit you, even if you’d be thrown out back on the streets a couple years later with nothing to your name. Even if it was the end of the line. But he didn’t have to know that.

“Don’t do it,” He outstretched his hand, facial expression still hardened but voice softer. Less firm. It had the opposite reaction you believed he was trying to achieve, only increasing your stress from his attempt to get closer. 

“It’s not worth it.” Worth. What does he know about worth? How can androids determine the worth of something, the value of a life? The value of a stranger you’ve only met once, the value of a kid that won’t last another six hours, the value of a missing and presumed dead child. What would he know about worth?

The thought made you sick as a brief thought of Jericho slipped past your mind. Was there another reason Markus brought you to Jericho, even though you said it was too dangerous and you didn’t wish to go before? Even just the idea of him using you at all made your stomach flip.

“...like you’d know.” You scoffed, holding your abdomen, slightly turned towards the ledge again to look down at the drop. You were stalling.. for what? You weren’t quite sure.

The blood and thirium rushing through you made you light-headed, and for a moment your foot swayed underneath you in the slightest way. You felt like you were going to pass out. Maybe from the adrenaline, the intensity of the situation, or maybe the fact that you just ran several blocks plus a good few rooftops. You stabilized your footing, quickly becoming aware of where you stood as you gained your breath.

“No, he doesn’t.” A scruffy, panting, tired voice called. You turned your eyes from the fall below to the sound, and you were met with a familiar face. A familiar, slightly wore in, untrimmed and greyed face you haven’t come to see in a while now. Instinctively, you pulled your mask up higher. “But I do.”

This was not the right time for him to be here. But if not here, when? You couldn’t—You weren’t going to confront with this now. This race wasn’t over, this race did not end here with you getting in deep shit and having Hank find out the hard way. You couldn’t do that to him, you couldn’t do that to yourself!

“It’s not worth it, kid. You have life in you, you think that’s worth giving up over an exchange of information?” If you had any life in you, you would’ve told him sooner. You would’ve had your mom notify him from the start of it all that you were still alive. Your mom, the mom that replaced your old mom and became what nowadays you consider to be your only family. For a human, you were quite terrible. You might as well consider yourself a one-way track objective mindset, a selfish machine-like human being.

The tears in your eyes remained a glossy shield, gritting your teeth as you listened to him bargain with you. His calm voice sank into your ears as he slowly shifted forward. The fact that he even cared at all for a stranger not to jump the ledge.. but perhaps that was just his jump. His case. To receive information from you. But something else poked in your mind that left an uncomfortable questioning thought. A thought that you’ve never really considered up until this last year or so, now brought face to face.

He took a brave step forward, pushing Connor back away from you. Even though he got closer, there was still a good distance between you both. Suddenly, you became very aware that you still had that gun at the waistband of your pants, but kept your arms loose and close to you just in case.“You can walk easy out of this, you won’t go to ja—”

“How would you know?”

“What?”

“You said he doesn’t know the worth, the weight, the value of giving up everything.” You started, jerking your head over at the brunette who wore a solid deflated expression. Very hesitantly you looked back at your father, starting to regret having even brought up the question. You didn’t need to know, you didn't want to know. But if you wanted to buy time to find out a better plan, you had to ask.

“But you were very quick to say you do, like you’ve done it yourself.”

 

A thick air hung between you both. The silence killed you, and your tired, irritated eyes wouldn’t let their sharp stare from the older man go. He looked blank for a moment as if he was taken back by the question. For once you could actually read someone’s eyes, the result you got from it wasn’t good.

“I’ve tried.” He admitted. Something twisted your insides about, those tears that didn’t need to be held back were starting to flood your eyes. You hands clutched at your clothing, mouth slightly opened ajar but unseen behind your mask. You thought you were going to throw up.“And I’ve failed.” 

Just hearing him say it, in his voice, on his lips, on his face, in his eyes—It was too much. It was too much of him, too real. You were not ready for this, nor did you ever think that you were ever going to be but here and now was definitely not the time. 17 years ago this should’ve happened, anywhere in between even. But because it didn’t this was the consequence of it. This was your fault.

“But life screws us all over for a reason, doesn’t it?” He took another step forward, hand outstretched in front of him for you to take if you wanted, unlike Connor’s which was more of a grab. It was welcoming, it was kind. Every about him, everything about the crash, the news reports and the voices of your new family had spilled into your mind. You could barely even focus on Hank himself. He was just so... real now.

While you had the temptation to grab his hand, you knew better than that. While he was your father, and while you still loved and cared for him, he was only the other side of the wall. He was the enemy.

The sounds of a helicopter barely caught your attention over the blood rush, and dizzying thoughts running through your head. It only made the situation worse. Your breath began to pick up, heart pound, and eyes switching back and forth between the helicopter and Hank. Then Connor caught your eye, and you knew exactly what you had to do.

 

One moment led to the next swift motion of your hand darting for the gun, aiming at Connor. Hank seemed to have read your eyes as saw it just before you even went for it, swiping his gun from his holster and aiming it at you. The killing silence passed through again, and you watched carefully as Connor’s LED spun quickly in a circle. You weren’t too concerned with Hank anymore, now it was Connor you had to be careful of.

Your eyes quickly jumped at Hank, gesturing to your gun momentarily before shifting your fingers a bit for him to see. You had the safety on, and you had no intention of shooting Connor. All you wanted was to make sure he didn’t lunge himself at you, keep him at a distance so you could protect yourself. ”I can’t tell you anything else, I’m sorry.” 

Hank soon understood, letting his hand slowly drop to his waist, but not putting it away. The thought that Hank would shoot you in any situation terrified you to the core, but again all you were to him was just a stranger. A stranger he couldn’t trust, only sympathize with. 

In truth it ran the same way back, you didn’t see the man reflected before you as your father. Your father, the kind-hearted young man who always was a little goofy around you was no longer here. From the looks of it, he died many years ago and was replaced by an old man who had an alcoholic stench and an undertone of grumpiness to his facial appearance.

“Let me go please,” You begged, taking a step forward towards the grey-haired man. You gave one last look behind you at the drop, as if you were considering it (which you weren’t), hoping Hank would change his mind.“Let me live.”

Those murky grey eyes of his, which had most color in them had drooped, looking past you as he debated with himself what he should do. There was conflict among them, one that spoke of personal experience and one that barked orders and law at him. Yet, when it comes down to it, he holstered his gun.

“Lieutenant I don’t think we shou—”

“Stay put, Connor. That’s an order.” He spat coldly, turning towards the Android and stepping to the side a bit from you to walk past. Connor’s eyes squinted, lips parted as if he was about to begin talking again but quieted by Hank’s command. An emotion finally broke from the mechanical boy. Frustration.

You didn’t know whether to say sorry or thank you to him. As quickly as your fear had flooded in, your relieve came soon too. It escaped your chest and for the first time since you’ve even up here, it felt like the cold oxygen reached your lung. You pocketed your gun with shaky hands, watching Hank stand to the side with a Connor mumble things to him. Hank looked like he was going to beat the ever loving shit out of him any moment, and you figured it’d be best if you weren’t hanging around to see it.

With that, you ran as fast as you could, sneaking past the backup cars and heading for the first train you saw. You considered leaving the state altogether, but that was what kept you clung to Detroit. Family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I just wanted to apologize for the last post. I had MAJOR writers block from the last chapter. I try my best to post every Sunday, but my laptop broke which made it difficult to edit and publish. I apologize for the inconvience and will try hard to publish on sundays


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